IT'S
THE WAP
JR....I
have a
.223 Ruger
MII-VT.
It is
identical
to my
22-250.

MY
BASIS
FOR
LOADING
THE
223

There
was
a
very
interesting
article
in,
I
think,
"Handloader"
magazine
about
the
.222
cartridge,
on
which
the
.223
is
based.
It
was
called
something
like
"one
cartridge,
20
powders".
It
was
one
of
the
more
scientifically
oriented
tests
I
have
seen.

Basically,
this
guy
used:

One
gun--Benchrest
40X
Remington
.222

One
case
type--Federal
nickel

One
primer--Federal
205
match

One
bullet
(Sierra
52
Match
BTHP)

And
20
powders.

With
each
powder
he
found
the
most
accurate
load.
He
recorded
three
3
shot
groups
at
that
most
accurate
load,
for
each
powder.
He
also
recorded
the
speed
at
that
most
accurate
load.
This
was
an
excellent
premise
for
a
test
because
it
shows
the
natural
tendency
of
20
powders
and
they
generally
perform
in
a
particular
cartridge.

Aside
from
the
phenomenon
of
barrel
tuning,
a
particular
load
generally
performs
well
in
a
particular
cartridge
because
of
the
relationship
of
the
powder
burn
efficiency
and
the
cartridge
volume.
That
is
why
there
seems
to
be
good
universal
loads
(+
or
-
a
grain
or
two)
that
work
well
in
most
guns
(especially
in
.223).
This
how
we
get
factory
loads.
This
type
of
test
shows
the
tendencies
of
the
powder
to
be
efficient
in
a
particular
cartridge.
Efficiency
would
generally
be
said
to
manifest
itself
as
accuracy
and
velocity.

The
ball
powders
all
did
best
(#1,#2,#3...)
for
accuracy,
but
were
all
accurate
at
about
3100
fps.
(this
seems
to
concur
with
my
findings
in
.223--Win
748,
H335
are
most
accurate
at
lower
loads
{26
-27
grs}.).
So,
this
made
the
ball
powders
very
low
on
the
list
for
speed
(around
#8
to
#10).
There
was
one
exception
to
this
"slower
is
more
accurate"
rule,
however.
#4
for
accuracy
was
AA
2015BR.
Which,
coincidentally,
was
#1
for
speed!!!
Now
you
must
understand
there
was
only
1/8"
difference
between
#1
and
#4
for
accuracy
(3/8"
to
1/2")
but
400
fps
for
speed
(3100fps
to
3500fps)!!!
3500fps
is
moving
out
for
a
.222!

[Testing
could
have
been
just
slightly
more
scientific
by
shooting
5
groups
and
throwing
out
the
high
and
the
low.
Accuracy
testing
of
the
top
4
was
set
askew
by
fluke
groups
that
did
not
follow
the
range]

A
.223
is
very,
very
similar
to
a
.222
but
should
be
capable
of
even
more
speed
because
of
a
slightly
higher
case
volume.
Initial
testing
with
Federal
cases
and
primers
and
moly
Sierra
BTHP
match
bullets,
shows
a
tendency
for
this
powder
to
get
tighter
as
the
load
gets
hotter.
A
very
good
trend!
At
24.5
grs
I
am
@.4"
groups
and
there
is
no
signs
of
pressure
at
all.
I
think
the
case
will
hold
.5
to
1
more
grain
of
powder
before
it
is
too
full
to
manage
well
during
the
reloading
process
(which,
by
the
way,
is
an
important
factor
when
considering
a
.223
powder,
this
person
in
the
article
also
discussed
this
for
the
.222).

For
varminting
this
speed
vs.
Accuracy
is
important
in
the
.223.
High
speeds
with
no
loss
in
accuracy
is
extremely
desirable.
I
am
shooting
for
almost
matching
my
22-250!

In
short,
try AA
2015BR
for 52
gr.
Bullets
in the
223.

I have
also
used Win
748 and
H335. I
never
tried
BLC-2,
because
I felt I
had done
the ball
powder
thing
already
and I
wanted
to try
something
different.

A
little
tip...
If you
think
that I
was
impressed
with the
2015
with 52
gr.
bullets
wait
till you
hear
about
what
this
stuff
will do
with 40
gr.
V-max.
OOOOOOOhhhhhh!!!
WEEEEEEEEEEE!